Jose: I spoke with AVB after axe

21 December 2013 11:32

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho told his pupil-turned-adversary Andre Villas-Boas to move on swiftly from his sacking by Tottenham.

Mourinho spoke to his fellow Portuguese after Spurs cut their losses on the former Chelsea manager on Monday, relinquishing him from his duties in the wake of the 5-0 loss to Liverpool.

"I spoke with Andre in the last six months; I spoke with him three times," Mourinho said.

"One in that manager's meeting (at the start of the season), one when we played against them and another one a couple of days ago.

"I didn't speak about it (the sacking). Just: 'Come on. The world didn't finish. Let's go. Tomorrow's another day and another job will come. So, happy Christmas'.

"I did not speak about the case, because every case is a case and only the people that is inside really know what was going on."

Even after Spurs' 6-0 loss at Manchester City, Mourinho insisted they were one of Chelsea's five rivals for the Barclays Premier League title.

Mourinho expressed sympathy for his compatriot, who had a challenging and ultimately unsuccessful nine-month stint at Stamford Bridge from the summer of 2011 to March 2012.

And he believes the Spurs board and chairman Daniel Levy should have stood by Villas-Boas, who worked under Mourinho in his formative years before taking managerial roles at Porto - where he won the treble, including the Europa League - Chelsea and then Tottenham.

Mourinho said: "In football nothing surprises me. In football anything can happen.

"(But) when they gave him three or four or five years contract, I think they did it because they trust him and because they think he's the right man to be their manager.

"They have a couple of bad results, I don't think it's a reason to change the trust and to change the manager.

"(But) every case is a different case. I don't know what was going on."